Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/411

 The Peril of the Fur Coat

��By A. M. Jungman

��DT D you ever see a rosy-faced child with a pretty white fur piece around its neck and its hands thrust deep into the comforting warmth of a white fur

���been discovered by the physicians of the Occupational Clinic of the Department of Health of the City of New York. With a view toward obviating- many of the hazards which sur- round the fur garment makers, an exhaustive study has been made of the fur and allied trades in this city.

In the garment mak- ers' trade the workers have better surroimd- ings than do the hatters' fur workers. Their per- ils are to be found in the making of childrens' sets. These are made of angora skins and other pelts. The angora skins are brought from China, and when they reach

��The new method of beating fur. The ma- chine is designed on the principle of a vac- uum cleaner. A rat- tan beater inside the machine beats the fur and the particles of dust and fur are sucked up into the bag in- stead of filling the air about the workman as was the case with the old method

mufif? An altogether in- nocent and charming sight, you would think. It is rather a disillusion- ment to find that death and disease lurk around that snowy fur. Not for the child, to be sure, but constantly, from the m i n u t e that fur was opened in the garment furmaker's shop to the minute when it is placed around the little one's neck, at least one person's health was in danger because of it.

That this particularly dangerous trade may be made comparatively safe has

���A fur worker not protected

��beating fur by hand. The workman is from the particles of fur and dust which are raised by his beating

the factory they are more or less curly. The hair is combed to straighten it and to give it an appearance of uni- form flufifiness. For this purpose a combing machine is used. This means tliat a man holds the skin under a re- volving cylinder on which are set fine

��383

�� �